Supported Platforms: Windows 2000, XP, & VistaRecommended Hardware: While HomePatrol can work with IP cameras all around the world, to monitor your home or office you'll need a webcam.

Options

From the Options dialog you can select and set several preferences for HomePatrol.

HomePatrol allows you to send captured JPG images during motion detection to an e-mail address or to an FTP server.

To send images by e-mail, select the Send capture images by e-mail checkbox and then fill out all the required connection information. You will need to fill in:

Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server — this is the domain or IP address of your mail server. Some common ISP SMTP servers are included for convenience.

Port — this is the port that your mail server uses to listen for requests. Most SMTP servers use port 25 and this is entered by default.

From Name — this is the name that you want the images to be sent by. You can set this to anything you want, like "HomePatrol Images."

From Email — this is the e-mail address that the message containing the images is coming from. This should probably be your own e-mail address to prevent it from getting blocked by your spam filter.

Use authentication — most SMTP servers require you to log in with a username and password before allowing you to send mail. Select this box if your server requires it. Then fill in the username and password fields.

Username — the name you use to log in to your SMTP server

Password — the password you use to log in to your SMTP server

Recipients — one or more e-mail addresses separated by commas to send the images to.

You can also FTP images to an FTP server. Select Send captured images to FTP and then fill in the following:

Host — this is the URL of the FTP server, like ftp.yourdomain.com.

Port — this is the port that the FTP server uses to listen for requests. Most FTP servers use port 21 and this is entered by default.

Username — the name you use to log in to your FTP server

Password — the password you use to log in to your FTP server

Destination Folder — this is the location where the image files should be put. If you leave this field empty, the files will be placed into the root folder for the login used.

Passive Mode — because of firewall issues, some FTP connections use this mode so that the client can initiate connections to the server. If HomePatrol images are not making it to the server, try checking the Passive Mode checkbox.

You'll also want to set the "Capture images during motion detection every ___ seconds" setting. By default HomePatrol will send an image every 10 seconds while it is capturing movement. This setting controls the minimum interval to capture frames during. For example, if there is motion for 60 seconds, HomePatrol will capture 6 frames, one every 10 seconds.

Note: The captured frames will only be sent by e-mail or by FTP if the "Capture frames on motion every ___ seconds" is checked.

Other settings in the Options dialog include:

Capture Folder — this is where HomePatrol will put the video and image files that are captured during motion detection. By default these files will be in the Documents\My Videos\Home Patrol folder.

Video Compressor — HomePatrol can attempt to use any of the compression algorithms (also known as codecs) that are installed on your PC. The benefit to using a codec is that you can significantly cut down on the size of the video file. Most codecs are lossy, which means you'll lose some video quality. However, the substantial size decrease is often worth the loss in quality, especially for security-video purposes.

It's worth noting that not all codecs will work with HomePatrol. Please test the codec with HomePatrol before relying on it to monitor your home.

Overlay date and time in videos — this setting superimposes the current date and time over the video and captured image.

Motion Sensitivity — this setting determines how much movement will trigger capturing.

Start with Windows — this allows HomePatrol to launch when Windows starts. You should make sure to check this setting if you plan to schedule monitoring.

Check for Updates — clicking this button makes HomePatrol contact the PCMag.com servers to see if there is a newer version of the program.

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